1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for detecting defect capable of examining electric characteristics of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a process of measuring the electric characteristics of a semiconductor device formed on a semiconductor chip, electric characteristics for evaluating the reliability and stability of a semiconductor device are measured in addition to the electric characteristics of an electric circuit or the electric characteristics of a transistor.
For example, as a conventional technique that controls the temperature of a semiconductor device when the temperature characteristics of the semiconductor device is measured, a temperature control device has been proposed which includes a heater that heats a semiconductor device and a cooling unit that cools the semiconductor device and adjusts the amount of current flowing through the heater and the amount of refrigerant flowing through a cooling pipe communicating with the cooling unit to control the temperature of the semiconductor device (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2000-258491).
The width of an electronic circuit pattern of a semiconductor device formed on a semiconductor chip has been reduced. For example, when the electric characteristics of the semiconductor device having a fine circuit pattern are measured, a detecting apparatus has been used in which a probe is provided in a sample chamber of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) in a vacuum state. When such detecting apparatus is used, an operator contacts the leading end of the probe with a desired point of the semiconductor device while observing the semiconductor device, which is a measurement target, using the scanning electron microscope, thereby measuring the electric characteristics of a minute semiconductor device. In the detecting apparatus, it takes a long time to change the sample chamber from an atmospheric state to a vacuum state. Therefore, operations, such as the coarse positioning of a semiconductor device (sample), the replacement of a probe to a sample, and the replacement of a probe, are performed in the sample chamber in a vacuum state. A sample stage or a base stage holding a probe device is moved to a predetermined position inside the sample chamber to perform these operations. In this case, in the technique disclosed in JP-A No. 2000-258491, a power supply for a heater or a cooling pipe is connected outside a vacuum chamber. Therefore, the movement of the sample stage is restricted by a connection member outside the vacuum chamber. As a result, it is difficult to move the stage to a predetermined position.